JGR co-owner Coy Gibbs dies hours after son wins Xfinity title

Coy Gibbs, the vice chairman of Joe Gibbs Racing for his NFL and NASCAR Corridor of Fame father, died Sunday morning simply hours after his son gained the Xfinity Collection championship. He was 49.

“It’s with nice sorrow that Joe Gibbs Racing confirms that Coy Gibbs (co-owner) went to be with the Lord in his sleep final night time,” the staff mentioned in an announcement launched shortly earlier than the beginning of the NASCAR season finale. “The household appreciates all of the ideas and prayers and asks for privateness at the moment.”

Joe Gibbs has misplaced each of his sons. J.D. Gibbs died in 2019 of degenerative neurological illness; he was additionally 49 on the time of his dying. Coy Gibbs succeeded his older brother as vice chairman of the family-run NASCAR group.

“We’re heartbroken by the tragic lack of Coy Gibbs,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France mentioned. “On behalf of the France Household and all of NASCAR, I prolong my deepest condolences to Joe, Pat, Heather, the Gibbs household and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing on the lack of Coy, a real buddy and racer.”

NASCAR held a second of silence for Coy Gibbs earlier than the beginning of the Cup championship Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, the place JGR’s Christopher Bell was racing for the title. JGR picked up all 4 of its crew chiefs in golf carts and drove them to a gathering within the motorhome lot two hours earlier than the beginning of the race.

“At the moment we are going to do what we do not wish to do, however we are going to unite as a household and race for the identify on our chest,” JGR driver Denny Hamlin tweeted.

https://twitter.com/dennyhamlin/status/1589347022028824578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Ty Gibbs had been scheduled to drive the No. 23 for 23XI Racing however was changed by Daniel Hemric for what 23XI known as “a household emergency.”

Coy Gibbs had simply closed a tumultuous week together with his 20-year-old son, who gained the Xfinity title Saturday and is quickly anticipated to be named Kyle Busch’s substitute at JGR.

However Ty Gibbs has been criticized this 12 months for aggressive driving and final week wrecked teammate Brandon Jones out of the lead at Martinsville Speedway on the ultimate lap. Jones wanted to win the race to make the Xfinity championship, and JGR and Toyota would have had two automobiles within the finale had Gibbs simply stayed in second.

On Saturday, shortly earlier than Ty Gibbs gained his title, Hamlin mentioned it had been a troublesome week at JGR. He had tweeted after Ty Gibbs crashed Jones “I miss J.D.” and defined he was referring to the environment at JGR established by J.D. Gibbs, which he known as a “tight household unit.”

“We actually must deal with them like they’re our brother and our household, and I feel at instances at JGR, we in all probability work with one another the least quantity of some other staff, and that is simply the information,” Hamlin mentioned. “I am not saying it is anybody’s fault presently, however J.D. was simply completely different as a result of he actually wrapped his arms round everybody. I informed Coy, ‘J.D. was my dad.’ He was actually my dad as quickly as I got here into the sequence, so whenever you lose that, it modifications the tradition slightly bit, and we simply must get it again.”

Joe Gibbs and Coy Gibbs spent the following days defending their younger driver, who was resoundingly booed at Martinsville and Phoenix after his back-to-back victories. Ty Gibbs made his personal humbling apology tour earlier than holding off Noah Gragson for the championship.

“Prayers to the Gibbs household,” tweeted Gragson, who had open animosity towards Ty Gibbs a lot of the Xfinity season earlier than congratulating him following Saturday’s title win.

Throughout Saturday’s postrace information convention, the final time that Coy Gibbs was seen publicly, he addressed the problem of the times main as much as his son’s championship clincher.

“It is undoubtedly been a troublesome week for positive,” Coy Gibbs mentioned. “Whenever you begin at the present time, I am form of like, I simply wish to get at the present time over with. That was my mindset, as a result of I wish to transfer on and get previous it. I have been by way of this earlier than in a number of sports activities. Ty hasn’t. So it was extra watching him and seeing how he will react in the course of the day. I feel he is simply doubled down and did his job after making an enormous mistake final week. It was enjoyable to look at that.”

Coy Gibbs performed linebacker at Stanford from 1991 to 1994 and served as an offensive high quality management assistant throughout his father’s second stint because the Washington NFL coach. Gibbs had a brief racing profession, together with two years within the then-NASCAR Busch Collection and three within the Vans Collection earlier than serving to his father launch Joe Gibbs Racing Motocross in 2007.

“Racing is a household and the relationships inside the total storage go a lot deeper than on-track competitors. At the moment, we misplaced a pricey a part of our household,” Toyota Racing Improvement president David Wilson mentioned in an announcement. “The lack of Coy Gibbs is devastating to everybody at Toyota and TRD. Our deepest condolences and prayers are with Joe, Pat, Heather, Ty, Case, Jett and Elle and all the Gibbs household and Joe Gibbs Racing household.”

Coy Gibbs was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and lived in Cornelius, North Carolina, together with his spouse Heather and 4 youngsters.

ESPN’s Ryan McGee and The Related Press contributed to this report.